Slain Kalinga judge laid to rest

Tabuk, Kalinga — Kalinga folk saw the biggest funeral crowd in the province last Friday when slain Regional Trial Court Judge Milnar Lammawin was laid to rest.

The huge outpouring of sympathy and grief came amid rumors that more killings are forthcoming.

A convoy of at least 250 vehicles trailed the funeral hearse for eight kilometers to the Lammawins’ farm in Callagdao, Barangay Bulanao where the slain judge was buried at noon. The necrological service was held at the St. Joseph Church in Dagupan Centro.

Thousands braved the midday sun as they caught a last glimpse of the judge who was buried with military honors. Lammawin was a major in the military reserve force.

Some 200 students of the C/ACT Computer College walked from the church to the Lammawins’ farm, while others lined up the streets carrying placards seeking justice for the judge.

In his remarks during the necrological service, Tabuk Mayor Camilo Lammawin Jr., the slain judge’s younger brother, allayed fears that the Guilayon tribe, where they belong, will retaliate.

He said they will seek revenge not through killings but by praying for the conviction of his brother’s killers.

Talk of revenge was ripe as rumors claimed that members of the Guilayon tribe were preparing to avenge Lammawin’s death by killing 10 members of the Maducayan tribe in Natonin, Mountain Province.

Peter Lingbaoan, tagged as one of Lammawin’s three attackers, belongs to the Maducayan tribe. His brother Edwin was killed in June last year, and the Maducayan tribe reportedly linked Mayor Lammawin to the slay.

Superintendent William Paleyan, Tabuk police chief, disclosed that the killers’ get-away vehicle, a Toyota Tamaraw with license plate BBD 388, was formerly owned by Edwin.

Edwin was gunned down in still unclear circumstances while he was driving Mayor Lammawin from Tuguegarao City to Tabuk on the night of June 4, 2003.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said there were efforts for the surrender of Peter Lingbaoan and fellow suspect Ulysses Signabon.

"Politicians are negotiating it," said Senior Superintendent Marvin Bola-bola, CIDG-Cordillera chief.

Lingbaoan was identified as the driver of the getaway vehicle which later found, while Signabon was tagged as one of the two gunmen.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Kalinga police are busy gathering evidence against the two suspects.

Last Thursday, NBI Region 2 director Jose Limmayog said they are looking into a conspiracy angle. He, however, did not elaborate.

"We are also keeping close watch on hotheads who might incite vengeance. This practice should be stopped. We are here to enforce the law. Those who are guilty should be brought to court and not to the bodong (peace pact)," he said.

Last Monday’s attack was the second on Lammawin. The first was sometime in 1990 when he and his wife, Venus, were fired at in front of their residence, wounding the judge in the chest, hand and back.

Lammawin, who was appointed RTC judge in Kalinga in 1992, had refused to carry guns nor hire bodyguards, his widow said.